We're bursting with opportunities for free stuff right now! Not only can those of you in the Santa Monica area swing by the Joystiq Network End-of-E3 meetup next week, everyone else (in the U.S. or most of Canada) can enter right now to win Space Invaders Extreme, Arkanoid DS, and an import paddle controller (in white). See, we kinda like you. Do you like us: Y/N? Oh, just go enter the contest already.

Square Enix has announced its E3 lineup, and it features two ... not surprises, exactly, but games whose releases have so far been unconfirmed. We're very happy to see two more games from Taito's DS lineup, Exit DS and The Legend of Kage 2, planned for U.S. release. Maybe Arkanoid and Space Invaders Extreme are doing okay at retail!

Like the previous pair, Exit DS and Kage 2 are shipping simultaneously, on October 7. While Arkanoid and Space Invaders were both based on moving left to right and destroying columns of enemies on the top screen, Exit DS and Kage 2 are both side-scrolling platform action games. It's like these pairs were planned from the start! But where does that leave poor Pet Shop Monogatari?

On the non-Taito side, Square Enix will show off Final Fantasy IV, Dragon Quest IV, and Chrono Trigger.

As DS fans, we play lots of games. There's just no getting around it, because the system is up to its eyeballs in great titles, always. So, we're often busy with this or that.

We imagine you game quite a bit on the handheld, too. So, we have to ask: what is your recent favorite game? What game have you played lately that has blown you away? A little game called Space Invaders Extreme? Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2? Well, what game have you played lately that has been just plain great?

In addition to echoing Cooking Mama's art style, Pet Shop Monogatari also relies on the same spokesperson Taito used for the Japanese release of Cooking Mama 2: Shizuyo Yamasaki, or Shizu-chan. For the Pet Shop Monogatari ad campaign, she's joined by Ryouta Yamasato (Yama-chan), her partner in the "Nankai Candies" comedy team.

The two, with Yamasato be-dog-suited and Shizu-chan dressed in the garb of the game's pet shop proprietress, star in a cute demonstration video of Monogatari's gameplay. In the other two videos found in the official Pet Shop Monogatari site's Gallery area (look for their smiling faces!), the team performs a Pet Shop Monogatari-themed song and dance (to the tune of "Camptown Races").

In case you're like us and tempted to sing and dance along to the "Wan Nyan Buu Taisou" ("Woof Meow Oink Exercise"), we've transcribed and translated the lyrics after the break.

We've got an ultimate game pack up for grabs with this latest DS Fanswag! One lucky reader is going to walk away with Space Invaders Extreme ($19.99), Arkanoid DS ($19.99), and an import paddle controller (in white; $29.99), and all for the low, low price of a comment.

What do you need to do to win? Well, since it's almost time for E3, tell us what you hope will be announced at the show! You may enter once per day and the contest will run through Sunday, July 13th; that night, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern, entries will close, and we'll choose one winner in a random drawing. To enter, you must be 18 or older, and a current legal resident of the United States or Canada (excluding Quebec). Have questions? Check the official rules.

The "other" game in Taito's catalogue is coming out very shortly in Japan, where aspiring Pet Shop Story owners can come together and scrub penguins. See, even if a pet shop that actually sold penguins existed, we're sure there would be more interesting things to do with them.

There's a launch party in Yokohama on July 13th, when an "entertainer" will meet and greet the first customers for Pet Shop Story. It's this guy, so don't bring the kids.

Go ahead and fawn over more screens of cuteness after the break. If you can handle disturbing happy-chappy music and grown Japanese men dressed as dogs, then check out the official website.

We're happy to report that despite their efforts to stop unannounced games from showing up, the ESRB is still a source of news. The latest update reveals that, as seen on Gamefly's "Coming Soon" page, Taito's Exit DS is being planned for release in the U.S. Like Space Invaders Extreme and Arkanoid DS, Exit will be published by Taito's parent company, Square Enix.

Exit DS is a new version of Taito's popular PSP/Xbox puzzle platformer Exit, which involves maneuvering a character named Mr. ESC out of buildings, and rescuing other inhabitants while doing so. The DS version adds optional, potentially weird, stylus controls.

The only pet-care game we find ourselves caring about is also one of the few that isn't planned for release here. Taito's Pet Shop Monogatari DS is a pet-adoption RPG with Cooking Mama art and penguin washing. Penguin washing! We usually react coolly to the proliferation of pet games on the DS, but this one has the distinct possibility of being interesting, due to Taito's involvement.

There's also the fact that it's uncommonly cute, even for what it is. Screenshot after screenshot proves this point adorably. If there's even the slightest chance that a game this cute can also be non-terrible, we're on board.

Anticipating a game can be a very dangerous diversion. If you have high hopes for a title, it's easier to find yourself disappointed than satisfied. This is what I was afraid of with Space Invaders Extreme; after drooling over the renovated Taito classic for months on end, I was worried that my expectations would set the bar too high. Basically, if it didn't completely blow my mind, the game was going to be a letdown.

Consider my mind blown.

I love Arkanoid. I purchased the NES game, with its included paddle controller, as soon as it came out in 1987. I still play it. It's still really hard, and I still think level 3 -- level 3! -- is one of the most devious and challenging video game levels ever devised. When Taito revealed that they were updating Arkanoid for the DS, I was beyond thrilled. I have been waiting for the American release of this game since last year. While I thought Space Invaders Extreme looked like a more creative update of its source material, Arkanoid DS had Arkanoid as its source material.

It's pretty good. It fails to hold up perfectly to the original, but it's pretty good.

The Arkanoid series appears to be fairly abstract. The paddle and blocks can't be anything other than gameplay elements, right? The Tetris blocks don't represent animals or anything, and Arkanoid is the same kind of non-narrative puzzle-action experience.

Except it isn't. One of the things that elevates Arkanoid beyond other Breakout clones is its ridiculous sci-fi storyline, which pits a cylindrical spaceship called the Vaus against barriers put up by the evil Doh, who is a giant moai. The Vaus's primary weapon is ... a giant ball that the crew bounces off of the ship's own body. The spacefaring backdrop makes the game a lot more enjoyable -- especially once you realize that your every action jostles the crew of a spaceship as if they were in a giant cocktail shaker.

For an example of the kind of epic narrative featured in the series (which, to an extent, is also found in Arkanoid DS), we've chosen to present the ending from the Super NES Arkanoid: Doh it Again.

This weekend, the DS Fanboy staff will likely be knee-deep in conflict. Whether it's against invaders from space or gigantic blocks, we'll be armed with one weapon that will aid us in defeating these threats: Taito's paddle controller. Seriously, it's all Arkanoid DS and Space Invaders Extreme for us this weekend.

What about you all? Going to be playing the same games as us? Playing something else? What will you be playing?

We've already seen critics rave over Space Invaders Extreme, but how about Taito's other redone classic, Arkanoid DS? Well, not so much. Reviews on this game range from good, to bad, to mediocre:

IGN (45/100) felt that the developers took everything that was great about Arkanoid and flushed it down the toilet: "But once you played the game it's easy to see just how bad of an 'Arkanoid' game it is. The Paddle peripheral is absolutely fantastic: the knob has great weight and interfaces with the system and game extremely well. But the gameplay is so far away from the original Arkanoid. The sound effects and power-ups may have matched the arcade game but the same action is nowhere near the original."

Gamespot (80/100) was on the other side of the spectrum, and thought the game had a lot to offer: "There's more than enough fun to be had with Arkanoid DS to justify its budget price tag, and the multiplayer content and online leaderboards that compare your performances in the single-player Clear mode ensure that there's no shortage of replay value if you're the competitive type. Arkanoid was a great game in 1986 and it's still a great game in 2008. Arkanoid DS is even better."

Nintendo Power (65/100) found the game to be fun, but not on par with Space Invaders Extreme: "Though not as glossy as Space Invaders Extreme (another Taito update from Square Enix), brick-breaker Arkanoid DS takes advantage of the DS hardware more than its classic-reborn cousin by offering a vertical playing field and a touch-control option." [July 2008, p.89]

For us, the release of Space Invaders Extreme carries the same weight as a world-altering event. Mainly because our own world has been altered to include such an inspired recreation of the original Space Invaders, which we never could have imagined possible. It's like finding an extra $20 in that jacket you have in the back of the closet, only that bill somehow managed to reproduce asexually and gave way to a whole colony of legal tender. Oh, and the money also talks and calls you "God." That's how blessed we feel just knowing such a game exists.

How do the critics feel? Well, let's dive in, shall we?

• 1UP (A-) says "Space Invaders was never intended to be a graphical powerhouse, and with its solid, pick-up-and-play action and an easily digestible $20 price point, Extreme makes for a perfect summer gaming distraction."

• IGN (90/100) found the DS game to be better than the PSP version: "Space Invaders Extreme is a certified hit and easily the company's best effort in contemporizing its classic property. The game's an absolute steal at 20 bucks on either the Nintendo DS or the PlayStation Portable, but if you want the definitive version of this fantastic classic revisit, the Nintendo DS version is it."

• GamesRadar (80/100) thinks it's a solid title: "[...] for quick-to-play, compelling arcade action - complete with a two-player head to head mode - it's hard to imagine a better package. Don't miss this one."

• Game Informer (83/100) said it's almost a stroke of genius: "It takes some clever thinking to take something this old and make it feel new again. Square Enix has done exactly that by maintaining the core "shoot the aliens" gameplay while dramatically expanding the strategy and skill required to succeed in the endeavor." [July 2008, p.95]

Let's just get this out of the way first thing: the import paddle controller works on the U.S. versions of Arkanoid and Space Invaders Extreme in both the DS Lite and Phat. But with that answered at last, the question that remains is: should you go to the trouble of importing the Japan-exclusive peripheral?

We've been test-driving both titles, with the paddle and without, and it definitely adds to the experience. Arkanoid without the paddle is fun, but not terribly engaging, and seems like the kind of game that would work only as a temporary diversion. For a budget title, that's fine! But with the addition of the paddle -- which turns the purchase into something decidedly not budget -- Arkanoid really comes to life as an exciting way to spend some time with your DS.